After a period of inactivity associated with the end of the Toastmaster year and the development of the new District 17 website, David and Alan are working again on their Video speeches.  Now they have at last concentrated on using soundtracks as part of the product.

David’s discovery

I did a speech about implementing the new District 17 website Header in the context of the Toastmaster International rebranding.  In it there are four images of various stages in the process, and explaining the process there are separate soundtracks.  You can view it at

http://netmasters.toastmasterswa.net/videos/110825-d7-website/

This used a facility in the Macintosh iMovie program which uses the inbuilt microphone.  You select the mic tab and it tells you that the soundtrack will be added wherever you place the cursor.  So you do that and when you have ended you click the mic tab again.  I placed the cursor at the beginning of the image I was explaining.  After that I adjusted the length of time for the image to be displayed to match the audio time – or a bit longer for the viewer to take it in.

Alan’s alternative

Alan took a different approach to achieve the same kind of result.  Working only from his iPad, which has a separate implementation of iMovie, he recorded a movieclip for a Toast in a Toastmasters speech.  He added a Header at the beginning which used an imported photo of a Galaxy and an Title for the speech.  He added the photo again at the end of the speech.

He then imported an mp3 file of Woody Herman playing “Golden Wedding”.  This recording runs for longer than the speech, the Header and the Close.  Timing everything carefully, the mp3 file is full volume at the beginning, but then is faded while the movieclip is playing.  At the end of the movie clip the mp3 sound comes up again for Woody Herman’s brilliant conclusion. Look at Alan’s finished speech:

http://netmasters.toastmasterswa.net/videos/110831-toast/

Ideas from the last Netmasters meeting on August 25, 2011

At the meeting the main item for discussion was my D17 Header speech.  There was some very positive feedback about the effective use of the voiceover soundtrack to explain the development process.

Talking Heads

As well there was discussion of the whole “talking head” approach to our videos.  We agreed that a 6 to 7 minute single “head” talking to the viewer is a very ineffective style.  Even my 3 minute “talking head” introduction to my speech was much too long.  Instead, perhaps 20-30 seconds of  a “head” shot and then switch to a voiceover with a graphic of the final D17 Header to complete the Introduction to the speech.

Effective Presentation Styles

We agreed that the booming popularity of YouTube style video presentations offers a great opportunity to us, but for it to be used effectively we have to produce a product which appeals to likely viewers (consumers).  So we much start to work on producing appealing product.  It will have these features (and others you might like to suggest)

• Lots of graphics
• background soundtracks
• voiceovers
• branding graphics
• a call to action somewhere – probably at both beginning and end

My next project

David Nicholas

Arising from that discussion and Alan’s implementation of the idea, I intend to produce a short clip to post on the website as an introduction to visitors who might be encouraged to enquire further or even to come along to a meeting.

I hope to produce this in the next few days and I will welcome your constructive feedback with suggestions for improvement. In the meantime, check out the two movies discussed in this post.

It is a joint project in the Communicating on Television Advanced Manual where Mark is the host and David is the guest.  You can watch it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOxUrwhxnE8

If you have any comments or suggestions, you can add them either or both to the YouTube site or this story.

I have added a new menu to the main page.  Look for Video Speeches.

On November 22, 2010 we had the first of our “online” meetings.  We didn’t meet together physically.  Three members prepared posted Manual Speeches on YouTube.  I circulated the links to our members and some interested non-members.  We expect some of them to join.

I have added links to these three speeches so that they are easily available.  I encourage you to look at them and add your comments as a form of evalution.

The next meeting will be at 3 Linkwater St, Shelley on Monday evening, December 6 from 7.00s-8.30 pm.  Join us for a stimulating and technically information meeting.

David Nicholas DTM
Vice President Education
Webmaster

Between October 2009 and February 2010 we held our meetings in the training room of a large company.   High speed wireless internet connection, a large screen monitor and professional telephone conference facilities were all available.  However, the offices were high security and we had to be inside the building by 6:00pm.  This created some difficulties for those running late or unable to find nearby parking.   Another problem was the set up of our equipment and testing of applications which eroded our meeting time.    A moment-of-truth came when we discovered that the dial-up telephone conference facility was far superior to our computers for video and voice over internet communications. 

Our physical March meeting was held at David’s house and included Mark who participated via Skype from his home.  Back to our hodge-podge of technical equipment working through a wireless home network.  It all worked well and the meeting was very successful.  A great lift in spirits for the members. 

Internet video meetings – not yet practicable? 

Netmasters has persisted with Skype video to include remote members in our meetings.  It works, but it is not very satisfactory.   Members have Skype versions installed for Macintosh, PC and Linux computers, each with different qualities of sound and vision.   Quality of two way video communication is not consistent enough for immediate interactive meetings.  Skype audio conferencing was briefly tested with a third party joining from Tasmania (thanks Damian and Hilary!).  Communication was clear with no hint of breaking up.   I think we may use Video Skype for establishing social contact, but switch to audio only for the formal meeting.   (See www.skype.com ). 

In previous months we conducted video meeting trials using the DimDim webinar (web seminar) process.  While DimDim provides an amazing service, it did not prove to be suitable for an interactive meeting.  The severe line delay for audio and vision was the biggest drawback.   (see www.dimdim.com ). 

Pre-recorded podcasts a great success. 

Perhaps Netmasters has turned a full circle.  At one of our 2008 meetings, Michael recorded a speech on his computer webcam which was played to the audience via a USB memory stick.  Netmasters pursued other internet options including interactive video meeting techniques for the next year.  At the March 2010 meeting pre-recorded video speeches from Alan and David were presented.   Bill demonstrated an audio iPod recorded speech. 

Audio quality is the most significant criteria for a successful podcast.    The home-made video recordings (using webcams and built-in computer microphone) were of fair quality.  We will test a video from a HD digital camera next time.    Members will need to check technical specs for their microphone for future recordings.   Sound level and audio quality from an iPod or iPhone audio recording taken at a “live” presentation was not really suited for playback to an audience.   Still, we are learning fast.  Podcast results have been very encouraging and we will persist with both video and audio speeches. 

A key feature was the use of Dropbox  to share the files between members enabling the videos to be viewed at different locations.  Playback at David’s house was straight off Dropbox.   This is an excellent application for file transfer and sharing, but not all members could install the software.   We will continue to use and recommend Dropbox.    (see www.dropbox.com ). 

Next meeting will be on 8th April at Alan’s house.

Leonor’s speech aroused much interest, particularly from David. David has recently expanded his photography interests with a new camcorder and is now inspired to create video podcasts.

Video podcasts will certainly require a large pre-publishing effort to edit the movie. I guess that synchronising sound and vision of an edited file adds further complications. Techniques to upload the resultant video to a website should be similar to a voice file. The ultimate end-user may be limited to just a few technologies to view the podcast. Would you seriously watch a podcast on a 2 inch mobile phone screen or on an iPod?

Audio podcasts are very simple to create. Any sound recording device with a file output facility can be used. The objective is produce a standard mp3 file. Leonor demonstrated the use of an iPod and mobile phone to record voice with a laptop computer for any required conversion to mp3 format. The end user can easily download the resultant podcast for replay on any mp3 device. Simple.

Video or voice podcasts – is one superior or is it horses for courses? What do you think?